Who is the breadwinner in your house?

R

red_mct

Cathlete
And if it's you, does this cause issues with your significant other? If it's your SO, does this cause issues for you?

Curiously,
Marie
 
I make more than my SO. It doesn't cause any issues at all with us. That being said, we keep all our finances completely separate, no joint accounts or anything.
 
My husband....by a lot, which he tends to remind me of all the time...not very nice. It was even that way when I made quite a bit more than I am making now. His job....his hours....his free time always come first for him...again, not so nice. We live very comfortably, but it can be frustrating, I am always the one worrying about the kids, their school schedules and such, when they were younger, I had to take care of the daycare issues, babysitters, etc. My job, no matter if I am just working semi-part time or when I ran my own store has to come second, simply because he makes more money. The nature of our two careers assures it will always be this way. UUGGHH.

Donna
 
My DH is the breadwinner, but he's putting me through nursing school. If all goes right, in less than a year we'll both be the breadwinners! It's never bothered him or me who brings home the money. Whatever works.

Barbara
 
Both DH and I make quite a bit of money. As the years go by the delta between our incomes becomes larger as he is a partner in his company and gets bonus $$ and company shares. Nothing has ever changed in the way we think about our finances though. Right from the beginning of our relationship we combined all of our accounts and it has always been OUR assets not "his or hers". We have a shitload of fun and NEVER argue about finances. We are fortunate that we have the same ideas on how money is spent, saved and splurged!!!:)
 
My Hubby has always been the breadwinner. I have my own business and only work part time. We are pretty much living paycheck to paycheck.:(

It doen't bother either of us who makes more money, it's just we'd like to both be making more money.
 
My DH is the breadwinner in our family, but we all pay a price for it. He is a truck driver, owns his own, so he has to be away from home 5 days a week. He never throws it in my face that he makes more unless we are joking about it, because we both know that I do all of the work. I work full time and have basically raised the kids by myself. I do all of the bookwork for his business, pay all the bills, etc. However, because he is away from home so much, on the days that he is home, he usually fills up his time with his friends or what he wants to do. A bit of a sore subject at times. I am trying to train him differently:7 Some days are better than others. I will keep working at it though. :)
 
I make considerably more than my DH and do to our jobs this will likely always be the case. Occasionally it does cause issues - especially when he was having a rough patch at his last job but for the most part it's a none issue. Ultimately the biggest issue for us is less where the money comes from and more where is it going to go. I think part of the reason our arrangement works is I do try to make a conscious effort not to remind him that I make more than he does. I know how awful I would feel if the role were reversed and he kept reminding me it was "his" money. Our marriage is a partnership and we each have a part to play.

We do combine our expenses more because I don't mind dealing with finances and DH hates it.
 
I am the breadwinner in my family, and DH is thrilled. If I let him, he would retire at 33 years old and be a stay-at-home husband (without kids, this will never happen :). As it is, he works part-time, and has plenty of extra time for housework, yardwork, and hobbies. So he keeps the household going while I work a zillion hours a week. We share all our finances, and never fight about money, probably because we share the same values when it comes to how much to spend on what, and how much to save or donate to charity.

Mel
 
ETA: My first post lost this sentence: Barbara -- me too -- my husband is putting me through nursing school, and I'll graduate next May!

I worked while he finished a master's and then a doctorate and got started in his career (he's a college professor), and now I'm in school "re-tooling" for the second half of my work life. I was actually surprised at having some feelings about no longer contributing to the household income, when I quit my job two years ago; I didn't think I'd mind it. But it's for a great cause; I'm very excited about my new path and the possibilities that will come with it. And I have a paid internship this summer; I felt very proud of my first paycheck!

Allison
 
It's never been a problem for us. I made more, he made more and now we are pretty much the same. We each have a bank account in our name and we also have joint accounts. My account started so I could pay for school and he wouldn't have to help pay for it. It worked well until I hit grad school and tuition jumped so I had to get a loan and now I am paying that off.

We enjoy ourselves and money isn't much of an issue unless we spend more and don't have much left til next paycheck. Trying to get those bills down and that is hard.

Rhonda
 
My SO is on disibility, he is in a wheelchair from a car accident 8 years ago, and I get paid nursing. We have a joint account, it doesn't cause any issues. We have the same goals, just built the house now saving for the wedding.:)

Adina
 
Throughout our marriage it has flip-flopped back and forth as DH and I have been at different stages of our careers and grad school. Now that he has finished with school he's likely to make a lot more than me for several years, but while he was in school and student teaching I was making more than him. There's absolutely no issue however, we both like to save most of our money and have the same mindset about what we like to spend it on. It's all "our" money, but like I said, this outlook is facilitated by our similar goals and hobbies.
Mattea
 
This is really interesting. I am the breadwinner here, and I always have been, so I don't have an issue with that, but sometimes I think my SO feels less than. He is kinda old fashioned. However, I think we split things pretty fairly. It's just scary to me to go into joint funds, which we are doing, partially. (We'll maintain our own accounts and then use a joint fund for household stuff.) I think I am having control issues! lol

Marie
 
My DH is the only breadwinner. I run the household which includes our child and my elderly father. I helped put DH through Veterinary School, so there are no issues either way. It works good for us!
 
I am the breadwinner and my DH doesn't have any problems with it. He contributes to the household financially and otherwise. Everything works out for us.
 
We have been married six years...DH wanted to take a different career path and during that time I was the breadwinner...for about 4 years out of the six.

DH started back on his Engineering track about two years ago and now he makes approx $10K a year more than I do.

We split the bills and keep our money separate. Works for us.

Never any hard feelings then or now.
 
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